Buran was the first space shuttle orbiter to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran program. It carried the GRAU index serial number 11F35 K1 and is – depending on the source – also known as OK-1K1, Orbiter K1, OK 1.01 or Shuttle 1.01. Besides describing the first operational Soviet/Russian shuttle orbiter, "Buran" was also the designation for the whole Soviet/Russian space shuttle project.
In 1976, Lozino-Lozinskiy was put in charge of NPO Molniya, a newly created design centre on the outskirts of Moscow. The organization had the unprecedented task of developing a 100-ton reusable orbiter with capabilities similar to or exceeding those of the US Space Shuttle. Unlike the US Shuttle, the Soviet winged orbiter would ride into orbit on a super-heavy booster developed separately at NPO Energia. Known as Buran, the Soviet shuttle made a single unmanned orbital flight and completed the world’s first automated landing in 1988. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Buran program was cancelled due to lack of funds.
The construction of the Buran-class space shuttle orbiters began in 1980, and by 1984 the first full-scale orbiter was rolled out. Construction of a second orbiter (OK-1K2, informally known as "Ptichka") started in 1988. The Buran program was officially canceled in 1993.
